Requirement
1. Chemistry and safety, and this gates three requirements
Required Often forgotten
Four parts, all of them discussed with your counselor. It is not paperwork: the three chemicals it names are the three the rest of the badge uses, and requirements 2, 3 and 4 all wait on it.
Notes and warnings
Warning. Do this first, and mean it. Requirements 2, 3 and 4 each say they come after requirement 1, and the three chemicals whose safety data sheets it asks for (sucrose, isopropyl alcohol and a waterproofing spray) are exactly the three that requirements 2, 3 and 4 put in your hands. Reading it as paperwork and leaving it until last is doing the badge backwards.
Note. Requirements 5, 6, 7 and 8 are NOT behind this gate. If getting to a laboratory or arranging a supervised experiment is going to take time, start requirement 8 now. Nothing is waiting on requirement 1 for it.
What this is made of
Where this step comes from
- Chemistry Merit Badge Requirements (Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2025-12-15), Requirement 1 · Titled "Chemistry and Safety" and required to be discussed with the counselor. Requirements 2, 3 and 4 each name it as a prerequisite.